


The Madness of Death

by LouRandom



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Needs A Hug, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Infinity War, Loki (Marvel) Feels, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, M/M, Thor (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, yet again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 12:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12935394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LouRandom/pseuds/LouRandom
Summary: Wreckage and dead bodies surround Loki, slaughtered Asgardian warriors and common folk all staring at him with unmoving, empty eyes.“Please… Please, don't.”Loki’s been begging for a while now, since the first moment he glimpsed Thanos coming out of a faraway mist, dragging Thor with him by the throat.





	The Madness of Death

**Author's Note:**

> Since I made the mistake of challenging myself to ignore the trailers for IW up until the premiere, to ease my suffering, I write about what I think might happen during the movie, so here ya go, Loki, the Tesseract, Thanos and death  
> A huge thank you to the wonderful [Thorki_And_Other_Obsessions](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thorki_And_Other_Obsessions/pseuds/Thorki_And_Other_Obsessions) for betaing this!<3 And to [darky01](https://darky01.tumblr.com/) for being a constant force of inspiration! <3
> 
> Enjoy, I guess?

For what seems like the first time in his life, Loki has absolutely no idea what to do.

Wreckage and dead bodies surround Loki, slaughtered Asgardian warriors and common folk all staring at him with unmoving, empty eyes.

The presence of Death, a sort of maddening and chilling atmosphere of suffocation, is overwhelmingly strong wherever Thanos appears.  It sends a shiver down Loki’s spine as he watches the Mad Titan approach him.  

"Please… Please, don't.”

Loki’s been begging for a while now, since the first moment he glimpsed Thanos coming out of a faraway mist, dragging Thor with him by the throat. Loki watches, confused and helpless, as his brother struggles against the Titan’s hold, his gaze intent on Loki, imploring him to…

_ Run. Teleport. Leave! _

Those are Thor’s thoughts, which he pushes into Loki’s consciousness with all his mind’s might. Loki shakes his head no. 

_ I can’t,  _ he thinks,  _ I  _ can’t.

“Please,” Loki begs, willing this whole thing to turn out to be a nightmare, a hallucination. Unreal. “Don’t…”

Thanos twists his hand and Thor screams, or tries to scream, no discernible sound quite manages to escape him, and Loki sinks to his knees. 

_ It’s too much, _ he thinks. On top of the excruciating pressure of the moment, there are echoes of the remaining few living Asgardians telling him to keep the Tesseract, to run, to flee, to leave them, to leave  _ Thor, _ but it’s  _ impossible _ , can they not  _ see _ ?

Loki meets Thor’s gaze once more. Thor is an idiot. Loki’s known that for a while now. And he wishes this were not the case now. 

Just a few hours ago, during the peak of battle, it was Loki begging his brother to leave through a temporary portal he’d managed to conjure to evacuate the Asgardian people. Thor, the stubborn mule of a King, refused, gluing himself to Loki’s side to fight off Thanos’ army until a ground-breaking explosion threw them apart and Thor ended up in Thanos’ clutches. 

“I’ll do anything.” It’s a verdict, Loki realizes as he speaks the damnable words.

Thanos smiles in triumph.

“Good, good, godling,” the Titan praises him in the same tone he’d used during Loki’s tortures so long ago. “So endearing, you saving your dearest brother like this—”

“Don’t you fucking dare, Loki,” Thor half-whispers, half-croaks through the grip on his neck, glaring at Loki with his remaining eye and telling,  _ shouting  _ at him with insistent thoughts:  _ I am already dead, brother. Nothing can change that. I love you. Don’t give up the Tesseract. Leave.  _

_ I love you. _

Oh, Thor.

_ I love you too _ , Loki thinks, but doesn’t let it carry to his brother’s mind. Far too painful, this. He finally plucks the Space Stone out of the pocket dimension he constructed for it and holds it out for Thanos to grab.

There are tears running down Loki’s face, but he couldn’t care less. All he cares about is—

The blade drives deep through Thor’s armor, piercing his chest and his scream resonates with Loki’s. The Mad Titan teleports away, leaving an echo of his laughter behind. Loki ends up on his hands and knees over Thor’s body, encouraging, commanding, forcing his magic to seep into Thor’s veins and heal him, fix him, resurrect him.

“Please, brother!” Loki doesn’t recognize his own voice, the broken, painful rasp that it is. “Don’t die.” Loki’s s never begged for anything so much in his life.

And has never felt so helpless. 

Only when Loki is certain that Thor’s breathing has stabilized and his blood cells have started repairing themselves twice as fast does Loki let exhaustion hit him, passing out on top of Thor’s blood-soaked chest. 

*

Loki awakens in a room which he instantly recognizes to be Midgardian; there is a small electronics tablet lying on his bedside table, as well as a coffee cup with what seems like Medusa’s head drawn on it. Items he’d seen on this planet before. 

The room is empty, except soon, it isn’t. Apparently Loki’s awakening triggered some sort of alarm and Thor rushes in, face crumpled in worry and fear. 

“Are you alright, Loki?” he asks. 

At first, Loki’s answer is a lame movement of damaged limbs and a sad smile.

“Never better.”

*

Apparently, the Strange Doctor, or whatever his actual name is, had located the Princes and the remainder of Asgard’s forces with his magic. Loki had to admit that was impressive, though he’d never say it out loud. The sorcerer brought them to Midgard, to relative and obviously fleeting safety, and now, the brothers work together with the Avengers to prepare Midgard’s defenses. 

Thor and Steve Rogers are the beacons of optimism in the scuffle, while Loki often lounges on the roof, gazing at the stars among which Thanos must be amassing his army in his crazy conquest for Death’s favor. The God is sometimes joined by Tony Stark and his panic attacks, which Loki has learned to quell with soothing waves of magic.

“We’re gonna lose, aren’t we?” Tony asks one time, shaking either from the night’s cold or from the fear.

“We are.” 

Tony closes his eyes and takes a hefty sip of whiskey, trying to drive away images of what is to come. Loki does the same, and his mind echoes Tony’s grim thoughts.

*

Thor kisses Loki one day, just to shut him up, after Loki quips about Midgard soon becoming a great big graveyard. His kiss, though passionate, is surprisingly gentle. Thor’s lips move against Loki’s languidly, sweet and soft, as his tongue explores Loki’s mouth, making Loki melt into his brother’s warm embrace. They break apart for air and Loki starts talking again.

“We’re still going to lose, you know. Nothing will change that.”

The look Thor gives him isn’t one of stubborn denial, but one of understanding. The words he offers aren’t of pity or comfort but a hard, unchangeable truth,

“If we don’t try at all, then we have already lost, Loki.”

Perhaps— _ no, _ Loki tries to stop the thought in its track.  _ Hoping _ is a foolish and useless endeavor. Except Thor never fails to strike Loki’s optimistic cord, and this time is no exception.

Loki renews the kiss, hands roaming Thor’s body, rough and greedy, as he teleports them to Thor’s bedroom and banishes their clothes. 

“I love you too,” Loki murmurs against his brother’s lips, praying to the Norns to have his life end before Thor’s does.

Selfish though it may be, Loki hates the notion of witnessing a death which would drive him insane. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Feel free to comment and tell me what you think<3
> 
> also find me on [Tumblr](https://fantasystoryteller.tumblr.com), say hello, offer criticism, yell about Ragnarok and the Avengers in general with me, etc.


End file.
